Heinrich Hoffmann was a German psychiatrist and the superintendent of a "progressive" mental hospital. This book, supposedly intended to be therapeutic, was written for his three-year old son. This book was first published in Germany in 1845 under the title "Lustige Geschichten und Drollige Bilder" and was described as "one of the earliest and most successful author-artist picture-books for the very young." It was reissued as "Struwwelpeter" in 1847 with added stories and pictures. In 1848 it was translated into English. The priority of the hundreds of editions is often determined by the slovenliness of Peter's features, particularly his hair.

The John C. Winston Company first began publishing children's books after buying out the stock of H.T. Coates & Company in 1904. Coates published an edition of this text between 1895 and 1904 that is exactly the same. It is likely that the binding, in the Eastlake style, is left over from an earlier Coates edition.